Blizzard gives $1.1m to Make-A-Wish following in-game panda sales

Okay, avid World of Warcraft players. We take back all the mean things we said about your habit of purchasing in-game vanity pets with real-world money, even though the in-game pets do nothing while the real-world money does everything. See, we didn't know that you were actually just donating money to charities in a sort of roundabout fashion. You're like money launderers, but with Tier 9 armor sets.

Blizzard recently donated half of the proceeds from players' purchases of a special pet, the "Pandaren Monk," to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, for a grand total of $1.1 million. The O.C. Register reports that Blizzard made a few more wishes come true at its HQ during the check-signing event -- WoW art director Sam "Samwise" Didier sketched kids' characters for them, and even hooked up 17-year-old Jordan Cofinco with a shiny new level 80 character. In short, Blizzard -- and anyone walking around WoW with a tiny Kung Fu Panda following close behind -- just gained some major karma points.